After a weeklong break in Johnny Depp’s lawsuit against Amber Heard, Depp’s ex-wife, Heard resumed her testimony on Monday, with her counsel Elaine Bredehoft asking the questions. 

“Well, you never forget it,” Heard said of the first time Depp allegedly hit her, which she claimed was after she inquired about his Winona Ryder tattoo. “That’s how I remember it. It changes your life forever. You never forget the first time someone hits you like that.”

Depp sued Heard in 2019 after she published an op-ed in The Washington Post the year prior. (In it, she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” She never mentioned Depp by name, but he has argued that the claim is a clear reference to him.) Over the course of now five weeks, with a one-week break, intimate details of their relationship have been served up to an audience of millions. The two actors and witnesses have discussed alleged fights—both physical and emotional—drug abuse and detox, childhood and early careers, their therapy sessions, and financial heights and losses. 

In Heard’s third day of testimony, Bredehoft questioned her about much of the evidence and many of the incidents that Depp had discussed on the stand, with Heard getting the chance to explain her side of various audio and video recordings. There is the one where she said, addressing Depp, “You’re not punched…I was hitting you,” audio which Depp’s team claims is evidence that Heard was the aggressor in the relationship. To that, Heard said, “I am talking about the difference between a punch, which Johnny did often, and me having to hit him in my defense. I know the difference between those two and I’m highlighting the difference between those two. Even if he wasn’t twice my size, they’re very different.”

Heard also described a folder she found on Depp’s computer desktop that read, “No Fun for J.D.,” painting him as a deeply—almost forensically—jealous person. “It was a collection of pictures of me from various red carpets, starting on the press tours that I had been on, where it was zoomed-in pictures of what he thought was, you know, like inappropriate clothing. Sideboob, cleavage, anytime I moved.” 

Some of those photos showed images of Heard’s scarred forearms, which she claimed were injuries sustained in the Australia blow-up (during which Depp lost the tip of his finger). She said Depp held her down on a glass countertop, and later, Depp did not ask her about the scars or show remorse about them. 

During one extended block of questioning, Heard offered a lengthy explanation of their dog Boo’s bowel movements, in an effort to deny that after the fight on the night of her birthday, she or one of her friends defecated in their bed. This has become one of the focal points in a sprawling case of alleged mutual abuse, inspiring the many online commenters who remain Depp advocates to call his ex-wife “Amber Turd.” Saturday Night Live controversially spoofed this piece of the case over the weekend. She offered an unequivocal denial of the incident. 

“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Heard said when Bredehoft asked if she had performed a prank. “I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know what grown woman does. I was also not in a pranking mood. My life was falling apart. I had a crossroads in my life. I was really serious and I had just been attacked on my 30th birthday by my violent husband, with whom I was desperately in love and knew I needed to leave. It was not really a jovial time. And I don’t think that’s funny, period. That’s disgusting.”

In another small point, but one that may have been made to meet an outsize moment from the trial online, Heard explained how she used color-corrective makeup to cover bruises. In Bredehoft’s opening statement on April 12, she held up a makeup palette that she said Heard used to cover her bruises; the brand that makes the palette posted a video on TikTok claiming that particular palette hadn’t been released until after Heard and Depp split. Heard used her time on the stand to say she used palettes like it to cover bruises, not necessarily that specific palette.

There was a notable change in cadence during Heard’s testimony, which may offer a window into Depp’s team’s strategy. When Depp was on the stand, Heard’s team objected infrequently, allowing him to speak at length about his experience. With Heard on the stand this week, Depp’s team—led in this instance by attorney Camille Vasquez—objected aggressively, interrupting her testimony often. It gave a halting quality to Heard’s time on the stand, and more than once frustrated Heard’s lawyer Bredehoft. One wonders if provoking frustration is the point. 

One of the only times Heard appeared to break down was talking about deciding to file for divorce in 2016. “I knew I had to leave him. I knew I wouldn’t survive it if I didn’t. So I made the decision to file for divorce. It was hard because I loved Johnny so much. I loved him so much,” she said adding, with reference to the name she called Depp when he was using, “The monster had been this thing that was now the normal and not the exception. The violence was now normal and not the exception. And it was so hard. It was so hard, but I knew I had to do it. And I would, I believe he would’ve taken it too far and I wouldn’t be here.”

Bredehoft then asked Heard why she filed for a temporary restraining order. “I wanted to change my locks,” Heard said. “I wanted to change my locks. I wanted a good night’s sleep. Security would always let him into the house no matter what I asked them, but I begged them to let me know when he was coming over, no matter how much I begged them not to let him in when he was mad or drunk or high. And I couldn’t sleep. I’d wake up in a panic. I was losing hair. I was losing weight. I got really sick. I had shingles. I couldn’t sleep. I’d wake up in a panic attack. I had panic attacks all the time. I was falling apart and was scared and very conflicted because the person I was scared of was also the person I was in love with, which was really, really tricky. And I was thinking one step at a time. I was thinking very myopically. I wanted just to get a good night’s rest, good night’s sleep. I just wanted to change my locks.”

Vasquez will begin cross-examination once Heard and Bredehoft are done. Ahead of Depp’s lawyer taking over, a spokesperson for Heard gave a statement saying, “There’s an old saying by trial lawyers: When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the facts are not on your side, pound away on the podium. Today, we expect Depp’s attorneys will instead pound away on the victim. We fear it will be equal parts shameful and desperate. And the overwhelming evidence—the truth—is not on Depp’s side.”

Heard has countersued Depp for defamation, which the jury is also considering. Many of her allegations had already been brought to bear in court as evidence for a libel lawsuit Depp filed against The Sun in the U.K., which he lost in 2020.